Coming of Age
by reforgedGaara
Summary: Anakin Skywalker comes back to the Jedi temple preclone wars and meets up with his old friends from the temple who are now padawans. Will their childhood memories and their friendship keep them together or will war and angst tear them apart?
1. Chapter 1

(A/N: Hey all this is another of my star wars fics, it takes place before, during, and after the Clone Wars. It follows Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader and his best friend my OC Seth En-Saeur and my OC Mira Kyrab. In this chapter they're all about 16 and this is Pre Clone Wars, just a bit before it actually. Enjoy and please review, criticism also enjoyed.)

Chapter 1: Return of an Old Friend

_So…I didn't think that three on one would be such a contest. Heh, leave it to me to get myself in over my head._ A Particular long haired padawan thought as his bright blue blade batted away the spiraling attacks of three other padawans at once. He smirked "Hey, congrats, you all made me break a sweat." Anakin Skywalker taunted as he jumped backwards using defensive maneuvers easily, narrowly escaping the green, blue and orange blades.

The other padawans circled him warily, this was no sanctioned duel…Anakin being his usual hard headed self had been too bold during training and had laughed at a Quarren whom he had bested. _Curse my mouth…_Anakin thought as he was forced to draw more and more on the Force to sustain his defense, something even the Chosen One couldn't handle at this stage in his training.

The padawans laughed "Is the mighty Anakin Skywalker running out of breath?" they taunted "What happened to 'I'll take you and two of your friends any day?'" they laughed sensing that Anakin was waning.

The Twilek, the Quarren, and the human female all twirled their colored blades preparing to finish off Anakin and leave him with severe burns from their training sabers. The green Twilek male flourished his green blade as he attacked in a downward arc, Anakin's blue blade meeting his in a flash of sparks, as Anakin twisted his saber in a parry. The Quarren's orange saber fell upon Anakin two slashes one from the upper right and the other from the midsection. Anakin struggling with the parries grimaced.

_Too slow this time…_Anakin thought as he prepared himself for the sting of the blue bladed human female.

The female smirked in triumph as she swung her blade in a wide sweeping arc for the most pain possible. The blue blade sailed through the air, its path straight and true….only to be interrupted by a distinct snap-hiss of a bright Viridian lightsaber blade that now blocked Anakin's flank. Where two seconds earlier there had been nothing there, now stood a muscular long brown haired padawan, his viridian blade having intercepted the blue blade before it could hit Anakin.

The padawan looked back with his piercing green eyes alive with the challenge of a fight "that's two you owe me." He smirked as he parried the blue blade and stood back to back with Anakin "Yeah, yeah I know Seth." Anakin laughed relieved that he had back up now. "Alright, I'll consider them paid for in full for saving your ass back on Correllia." Anakin replied as he twirled his blue saber, now fully confident they could win. "Fair enough, we'll settle accounts later, first things first." He eyed the female human and the Quarren as well as the male Twilek. Anakin nodded "What are you thinking? Alpha or Beta?" he said blocking casually the Quarren's orange blade, as Seth blocked the Twilek's and the human's green and blue blades respectively. Seth laughed "Definitely Beta" he said as he and Anakin blocked two of the sabers casually then turning to face each other, their blades crossed in an X form catching the last saber. They spun away from each other parrying attacks.

Seth used the Force to jump high into the air flipping behind the three attackers, diverting two of the attackers blades, allowing Anakin's blue blade to carve through the female human padawan's defenses in an expert show of swordsmanship. The female moaned in pain as he hit her saber up into the air and kicked her hands up as his saber spun around and scored a sever burn strip across her belly. She fell to the ground in a head as he closed in on the two who had their backs turned. The Quarren turned around, hearing his fallen comrade, to meet Anakin's blue saber with his orange saber. Sparks flew as they separated from their partners and engaged in separate duels.

Seth's viridian blade danced in a brilliant display of his own grace and strength as he parried the strikes of the Twilek's green blade. The two separated and sized each other up circling each other. "I should have known that you would be here, where ever Skywalker is, you seem to pop up right next to him…like some sort of slave…" the twilek smirked. Seth growled "Shut it" he said as he closed his eyes and said "I'll make this quick…" he flourished his saber "but painful". _The twilek's dominant foot is back, his hilt is held at chest height with the blade vertical to the ground. What form is this…_Seth thought as his closed his eyes, his photographic memory kicking in, he could see it…as a youngling…and a smile appeared on his face as he opened his eyes slowly _The fool…he's using Form I: Shii-Cho…_

Seth lowered himself and angled his blade across his chest, his padawan braid hanging over his shoulder and his face a mask of concentration and enjoyment of battle. He launched himself at the twilek, his viridian blade a blur as he drew upon the force to amplify his movements focusing solely on his saber technique. This was his second favorite form….Form IV: Ataru.

The Twilek batted away what attacks he could, Seth's form too aggressive to fully counter. Panic swelled in his chest as the saber got through more and more of his defense, Shii-Cho not enough to hold off his rapid aggressive movements. The Twilek fell back more and more, until he couldn't keep track of Seth's movements, then a burning pain in his hand erupted and he dropped his saber. Seth's eyes narrowed, his saber carving into the flesh of the Twilek inflicting burns on his torso and neck. The twilek groaned and fell backward unconscious. Seth twirled his blade to release the rest of his built up momentum as he stood up getting out of his stance. _Hn…_he thought as he hooked his saber hilt onto this belt and turned to watch Anakin.

Anakin, with his usual grace and form, spun and twirled his lightsaber elegantly in weaving patterns driving the Quarren back, his orange blade parrying what blows he deemed a threat. Anakin smirked, confident as ever, as he employed his favorite form, Form V: Djem So. He made his wide sweeping attacks, forcing the Quarren to meet him head on, strength vs strength. What Djem So counted on, was exactly that, and had counters and parries to create openings in the enemy's defense. Anakin did exactly that, quite well too as the Quarren had no idea what form he was using. Anakin had a reputation for using a number of forms quite well and the Quarren had no time to identify it. The Quarren's lightsaber was easily batted to the side as the ever persistent Anakin pressed forward ever deeper into the Quarren's defenses until he was overwhelmed and Anakin struck the killing blow at the neck, followed by a disarming strike to the hand, forcing the Quarren to drop the saber and finally a spinning attack to the torso, forcing the Quarren to his knees in pain….and finally dropping the quarren to the floor unconscious.

Anakin smirked victorious as he locked eyes with Seth and they walked straight towards the other and finally embraced each other in a friendly bear hug. They laughed as they said at the same time "It's been too long since I've had a fight with you, my friend." Then they laughed again, they hadn't changed a bit since temple days. Anakin let go of his friend and said "Man, where did you get those saber skills? I haven't seen any like that in awhile!" Seth scratched his head self-consciously and said "Well I wanted to learn Form VII: Vaapad, but my master thinks that I can't handle it…so she started me learning Ataru and its grown on me." He smiled "but what about you? I haven't seen someone cleave through another saber user's defenses like that in ages, what was that? Djem So?" he asked fully knowing that it was Djem So, he had gotten very good at identifying saber stances and forms. Anakin nodded "yeah, that's it. You still got those dead sharp eyes, I see." He said motioning to Seth's sparkling emerald eyes. Seth nodded "damn straight, what can I say? The chicks dig them." They laughed as they walked off away from the smoking unconscious forms of the three apprentices who had attacked Anakin.

As they walked to the mess hall, Anakin said "so where have you been lately? I haven't seen you since we both got assigned to different masters." Seth shrugged "I've been around, all the way from here, to Dantooine, to even as far out as…" he looked over his shoulders "Korriban" he said hushed. Anakin was surprised "you have to tell me about it!" he said excitedly. Seth shook his head "not in public….just wait till after I get some grub, I'm starving." He said as he pushed open the mess hall doors.

Anakin sighed "man it sounds like you had some exciting missions, and you've grown a lot." Seth nodded "yeah but so have you, I can tell that you've had your fair share of experiences and it seems you still have that 'chosen one' crap all stuck up in your head too." He laughed and playfully hit Anakin in the shoulder. Anakin laughed "I can't help it if they think I'm some sort of prodigy, I mean come on…." He sat down with his friend and watched him scarf down some ungodly jedi concoction they called food "we're at the top of our generation, we're special….destined for greatness." He said envisioning futures full of grandeur. Visions of battle, of adjudication, of respect and of instilling Peace, Order and Justice throughout the galaxy filled Anakin's head. He was rudely brought back to reality by a snort and a laugh as Seth picked his head up from the soup bowl and laughed spitting soup all over Anakin. "Please keep that idealistic shit out of your head, Ani. Remember" he pointed to his head and then to Anakin's head "our link? It still lets me see you're little hopes of being a great hero. Let's face it Ani, all the danger is gone in this universe. There are no giant wars breaking out, no epic battles between Jedi and Sith, nothing….NADA…ZIP…ZILCH!" Seth said as he cleaned off his face with his napkin.

Anakin sighed, deflating a little "maybe you're right….well if there's no more danger….what are we gonna be doing?" he asked. Seth sighed "come on, same old, same old, like trade disputes, and little tribal disputes and MAYBE if we're LUCKY we'll get a minor war sometime that we'll be FORBIDDEN from intervening in. We'll just be there to advise, Jedi are no longer generals Ani…no longer. Long gone are the days of heroism……and such a shame it is to see it go." He said softly as he returned to his soup. Anakin played with his braid "well soon, we'll be able to go to the trials. My master Obi-wan said that my skills are progressing by leaps and bounds…though I still get the feeling that he's holding me back…that there's greater power…but he doesn't think I'm ready for it yet…and it's irritating." He growled.

Seth nodded "sounds like me and my master, she still thinks that I'm too enmeshed in combat, that I can't separate my love of battle from the actual battle….she thinks I'm in danger of falling, I know it…and I resent it." He muttered slurping loudly. Anakin nodded "I think that Obi-wan thinks that of me too, I don't know why. It's like they don't trust us." Seth shrugged "maybe they don't…I dunno. All I know is that I'd feel the pull of the Dark Side if I was in any danger of falling and I'm still able to fight until the opponent is disarmed or gives up…I think I'm just too aggressive for her." He said shrugging. Anakin lifted an eyebrow "who is you're master anyhow?" he asked intrigued. Seth smirked "Aayla Secura" he said. Anakin's mouth dropped "lucky bastard…" he said softly. Seth shrugged "eh, she's different than you'd think…not all female twileks are all alike." He said somewhat sorrowfully.

They both laughed and got up heading out to their favorite hang out place…the Room of A Thousand Fountains. They walked into the room and looked around, their faces changing from awe to wonder constantly. "by the Force…" he spun around looking and taking in all the sounds, smells and sights. Anakin nodded "its been too long…" he did the same as they both fell to the floor, catching themselves on a blanket of Force floating in midair. "wow…" Seth said closing his eyes and reaching out with the Force, feeling the calming aura of the room seep into his soul and relax him, setting him in tune with the rest of the Force. Anakin did like wise and then started to wander nostalgically in his mind. _It was here…here where we played in the fountains…_

Two young padawans ran through the Room of A Thousand Fountains dressed in mini jedi robes pushing each other playfully. One had short dirty blonde hair and the other had short brown hair, one with piercing green eyes and the other with deep pure blue eyes. They laughed as they sat on the edge of the main fountain and splashed each other with water using the force. "Ani…you're my best friend." Kid Seth said as he splashed kid Anakin with water using the force. Kid Anakin laughed and splashed back "yeah Seth…and when we're Jedi…all the bad guys better watch out!" he smiled genuinely. Seth smiled back and then got his face full of water. He shot a glare at Anakin who shrugged, suddenly a kid human female peeked her head up from behind the fountain "hey guys" she giggled. Seth growled lowly "MIRA!!" he yelled as he got up and chased the red headed girl around the fountain splashing her with the water with the Force. She giggled mischievously and laughed "come on Seth…it was all in fun." She laughed again "plus you don't wanna splash me, I snuck out of history class to come play with you two again!" she giggled. Anakin and Seth frowned "Mira…you know you're supposed to be in class…" they said in unison. Mira rolled her eyes "you're no fun plus I really don't like that class….it makes me sleepy." She laughed. Suddenly a huge wave of water surged out of the fountain and splashed all of them. There the apprentices stood laughing totally soaked, when a small green Jedi Master hopped up onto the fountain "skipping class again you are, young padawan" Master Yoda said looking at Mira not angry "blame you, I cannot…." He said as he poked her with his cane. Seth was bewildered "why not master?" he asked confused. Master Yoda laughed as he turned to Seth "because put Yoda to sleep, the old droid does." He laughed and hobbled over to Anakin. Anakin smiled innocently "Master Yoda? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in meditation?" he asked immediately serious in the presence of a Jedi Master. Master Yoda chuckled "for what is Yoda here? For same thing that mischievous padawans are here for…" he motioned with a clawed hand to the fountain and an orb of water floated out in mid air fascinating the padawans "Even Yoda needs fun, he does" Yoda said as he released his hold on the water and the orb burst splashing all the young padawans and Yoda. After the water drained Yoda, Seth, Anakin, and Mira lay on the floor giggling. Even for all his years, Yoda seemed as youthful as his younglings and was happy to play with them. They all lay in one wet heap laughing.

Anakin's flashback was interrupted by a splash to the face "I SAID CUT OUT THE FLASH BACKS!!" Seth said laughing. Anakin glared and splashed his friend in the face just like old times. And sure enough, there the two padawans sat trading water missiles, only this time they were jumping and dodging each padawan was now very agile and quick. At the end of about ten minutes both were decently wet and laughed until they stopped "This is so ridiculous….I feel like a kid again…." Seth said laughing. Anakin nodded and panted "well…except I think we're missing one extremely annoying…" and he would have finished if he hadn't been hit in the face with a water missile. Seth and Anakin looked from where the missile had been shot and saw a well shaped red headed female sitting on the top of the central fountain molding two more missiles "hello boys…looks like you decided to start the nostalgia-fest without me…" she said smirking as she fired both missiles hitting them both square in the chest "that's against the rules…cause everyone knows…." She smirked and adjusted her long red hair "you just can't have fun without me!" she said as she flipped down off the top of the fountain landing gracefully. "Now…let's play." She said with a competitive gleam in her eyes.

---End---

(A/N: Hope you all liked it, please review to let me know if I should continue this story.)


	2. Chapter 2: Changes

(A/N: Well I'm glad some people liked it enough to leave a review, here's the second chapter as a reward. Plz review so I know what you think.)

Chapter 2: Changes

"_There are many realities in the universe, some of them quite harsh. One reality that is inescapable is that there is nothing more valuable than a friend. More than food, more than shelter, and more than weaponry, an ally can save your life._"  
―Qui-Gon Jinn, helping the Wookiees resist the Trade Federation

Seth's face grimaced as he stood up looking at his thoroughly soaked black tunic. He shook his head and concentrated on the water around him forming a small but dense orb of water. He tucked it behind his back and levitated it there while his intense green eyes locked eyes with Mira

"Mira, seems you've grown." Seth smirked as he eyed her quite obviously checking her out.

"yeah I have" Mira said frowning at seeing him check her out as she hurled another water missile at him. "And I've gotten stronger too!" she managed to say as she hurled another water missile at Seth.

Seth laughed as his eyes showed him the trajectory of her first missile as he formed a small water missile in addition to his other big one that was still being packed densely with water behind his back "you may have gotten stronger." He said as he hurled the small water missile at her first one, intercepting it before it could hit him. "but you haven't gotten any smarter" he smirked as he dodged the other water missile easily and hurled a lightly packed water missile at her feet.

Mira chuckled as she flipped up into the air out of the range of the first one "is that all you URK" she said as Seth's second much more dense water missile impacted straight into her stomach sending her plummeting out of her force jump back into the giant fountain.

Anakin watched her fall and slapped high fives with Seth "DAMN! Nice shot man!" Anakin laughed as he threw three missiles at Seth from close range, all impacting dead on sending him into a wall laughing. "Seth the holonews called, they want to do an interview with you about being TOTALLY OWNED by Anakin Skywalker!" he laughed.

Seth took the hits to the stomach and winced more at the humiliation rather than the pain and coughed up a little water "damn you, Skywalker!" he laughed as he stood up and started forming a really dense water missile.

Mira swam back to the surface of the fountain and watched the two boys fight. She recovered her breath and formed a giant water ball _Keep smack talking Skywalker…always was you're weakness…_ she thought to herself as she jumped up in the air with her water ball raised up above her head "Hey SKYWALKER! The holonews called, they want to know how the 'Chosen One" feels when he's TOTALLY OWNED BY A GIRL!" she said as she released the giant water ball onto Anakin's head.

Anakin was pressed down into the floor from the giant impact of the water ball "OOMPH!" he said as he waited for the water to clear. When it did he gasped for air "damn it all Mira!" he laughed as he tried to catch her with a quick splash but found he was stuck to the wall _Damn it Mira…you've gotten stronger…_he thought

She dodged easily and rolled behind a small fountain for cover, gathering water for her next attack. "NEH! You losers still can't hit me!" she taunted as she gathered herself. "My powers have doubled since we last met!" she said as she charged her water ball and flung it at Seth.

Seth smirked "Double the power, double the fall." He said as he produced three water balls densely packed and fully formed from behind his back, he hurled one with the Force. It intercepted Mira's and punched through it and it kept going smashing into the fountain with a giant amount of momentum. The fountain cracked a little and Seth heard Mira gasp.

"Damn it Seth!" _how the hell did he manage to get three of those…_she thought desperately not wanting to get hit with another one of those missiles _he actually makes his to hurt…_she thought as she rubbed her side that had gotten hit earlier _but I don't think he would do it on purpose…I don't think he'd intentionally hurt me…key word is Think…_she thought realizing it had been so long since she had seen him and that he could be a totally different person now. The fountain shuddered under Seth's bombardment and finally shattered under the impact. Mira looked slightly fearful at the triumphant Seth as he took aim with his last dense water ball.

Anakin watched through the thin layer of water that still had him pinned to the wall _Whoa…Seth's actually making them hard…its cracking the fountains._ Anakin sighed blinking _What's happened to him? It looks like he's actually trying to hurt her…_he thought as he broke through the thin water and formed it into a small thin sharp line of water _What's happened to Mira? She looks like she's gotten a lot more…experienced…_he sighed looking at himself and realizing the changes he'd gone through. Seth's water ball hurtled through the air, mean grin on his face as if he were enjoying the combat a little too much. Anakin closed his eyes and through his sharp lance of water intercepting Seth's water ball, bursting it. _What's happened to us all?_ He thought sullenly.

Seth smirked as he hurled his water ball, loving the thrill of conflict and the sudden jumps in the Force as people were hit and pain surged through them. But he was soon disappointed as he watched his masterpiece of pain pop from Anakin's water lance. He felt disappointment surging in Anakin, fear surging in Mira, and anger surging within himself. All the sudden, as if released from a spell, Seth's enjoyment died down. He snapped back into reality and realized he had almost hurt two of his closest friends in what had started off as a friendly splash fight. _Oh…no…Master Secura..she she warned me about this…I can't believe it almost happened to my friends too…What's happened to us? More importantly….What's happened to me?_ He thought as he looked down at his hands that had almost hurt his dear friends.

Mira crept out of the wreckage of the fountain. All three friends looked at each other guilty and an awkward silence descended on the room, where only the trickling of water was heard. Anakin broke the silence "well…at least we don't have to wash our robes today…" he tried to crack a joke.

Seth nodded "yeah…laundry sucks…" he tried to keep the joke going eager to switch from the awkward silence. He laughed a little trying to fill the silence, which threatened to engulf the room once more like a hungry rancor. "so…uhh…lets get out of here before a Master catches us?" Seth smirked trying once more to fill the silence, finally succeeding. He wanted to get out of this room…no longer did it provide him with the same solace it had once filled him with…and he didn't know why.

Mira, quickly catching on to the trend nodded and plastered a fake smile onto her face "yeah lets beat it before Master Windu gets here and makes us clean this up." She laughed and sprinted out of the room. Anakin followed thinking _We all need to have a heart to heart chat…we can't beat around the bush all day…it's gonna happen eventually…_ he thought as he watched Seth dash up beside him, as they all watched each other Green, Blue and Ice colored eyes met sharing a mutual thought _We're different than we used to be…_


End file.
